Gangsters turn up the firepower

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ON MOST big-city freeways, a commuter headache is an accident
that attracts a line of rubbernecks. This big city is, ah,
different.

Here is a Johannesburger's driving headache: a stolen
Mercedes-Benz runs an armoured truck off the freeway; four carloads
of AK-47-toting bandits screech up beside it; and the 20 or so
thieves encircle the immobilised truck, guns trained on the ensuing
gridlock.

Using tools powered by portable generators they peel back the
truck's roof and scoop out the cash.

Then, firing wildly, they all speed away.

That was the scene on the city's M2 freeway on August 22. And
four weeks earlier, when a similar hold-up unfolded near the same
spot. And three days after that, on the N3, east of the city
centre. And about two weeks ago, just off the M1, in Soweto.

The good news here  and it is very good news  is
that South Africa's once-terrifying rates of carjackings, murder
and even armoured car attacks have fallen sharply since the late
1990s, when violent crime seemed almost out of control. The South
African Police Service's annual crime report, released on
Wednesday, states for example that the number of murders dropped
another 5 per cent in the year ended April, and is down 40 per cent
since 1995.

Remaining violent crime is not only ever more spectacular, but
ever harder to rein in. Every time the police and security
bureaucracy find a way to thwart criminals, the criminals invent a
way around it, or find an easier target.

Or they simply turn up the firepower.

No wonder many South Africans feel less safe than ever, whatever
the statistics say.

Armoured cars have become such difficult targets that robbers
are shifting their gunsights to expensive shopping malls and other
stores that are flush with cash. The Consumer Goods Council of
South Africa says armed robberies in stores are up 43 per cent so
far this year.

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1126982231843-theage.com.auhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/gangsters-turn-up-the-firepower/2005/09/23/1126982231843.htmltheage.com.auNew York Times2005-09-24Gangsters turn up the firepowerJohannesburgWorld